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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Meeting 11-19-20 (Reso 2870-2020) - 499 Forbes 2 RESOLUTION NO. 2870-2020 PLANNING COMMISSION, CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO STATE OF CALIFORNIA RESOLUTION MAKING FINDINGS AND APPROVING PLANNING PROJECT P19- 0001, INCLUDING USE PERMIT UP19-0003, DESIGN REVIEW DR19-0032, AND PRELIMINARY TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM TDM19- 0005, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW OFFICE / R&D BUILDING AND PARKING STRUCTURE IN THE BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY PARK (BTP) ZONING DISTRICT AT 499 FORBES BOULEVARD. WHEREAS, Aralon Properties (“Applicant”) has proposed to construct a five-story, 128,737 square-foot office / R&D building approximately 85 feet in height, and a five-story parking structure on a 2.96-acre site on 499 Forbes Boulevard (herein referred to as “Project”); and, WHEREAS, the proposed Project is located within the Business and Technology Park (BTP) Zoning District; and, WHEREAS, Applicant seeks approval of a Conditional Use Permit (UP19-0011), Design Review (DR19-0032), and Preliminary Transportation Demand Management Program (TDM19-0005) for the Project; and, WHEREAS, approval of the applicant’s proposal is considered a “project” for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act, Pub. Resources Code §21000, et seq. (“CEQA”); and, WHEREAS, on November 19, 2020 the Planning Commission for the City of South San Francisco held a lawfully noticed public hearing to solicit public comment and consider the Environmental Impact Report (EIR19-0003) (“EIR”) and the proposed entitlements, take public testimony, and approve the Project; and, WHEREAS, the Planning Commission reviewed and carefully considered the information in the EIR, and by separate resolution, considered the Project’s environmental impacts and certified the EIR including adoption of a Statement of Overriding Considerations and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program; and WHEREAS, the Planning Commission reviewed and carefully considered the requested entitlements at the duly noticed public hearing on November 19, 2020, and all related testimony and evidence presented in the record and during the hearing. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that based on the entirety of the record before it, which includes without limitation, the California Environmental Quality Act, Public Resources Code §21000, et seq. (“CEQA”) and the CEQA Guidelines, 14 California Code of Regulations §15000, et seq.; the South San Francisco General Plan and General Plan EIR; the South San Francisco Municipal Code; the Project applications; the 499 Forbes Boulevard Project Plan, as prepared by Woods-Bagot Architecture, dated October 23, 2020; the Preliminary Transportation Demand Management Plan, as prepared by TDM Specialists, Inc., dated June 26, 2019; the 499 Forbes Boulevard Project EIR, including the Draft and Final EIR and all appendices thereto; all site plans; and any other evidence (within the meaning of Public Resources Code §21080(e) and §21082.2), the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco hereby finds as follows: SECTION 1 FINDINGS A. General Findings 1. The foregoing recitals are true and correct and made a part of this Resolution. 2. The Exhibits attached to this Resolution, including Conditions of Project Approval (Exhibit A), Preliminary TDM Plan (Exhibit B), and the Project Plans (Exhibit C) are each incorporated by reference and made a part of this Resolution, as if set forth fully herein. 3. The documents and other material constituting the record for these proceedings are located at the Planning Division for the City of South San Francisco, 315 Maple Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, and in the custody of the Planning Manager, Sailesh Mehra. 4. By Resolution No. ________, the Planning Commission, exercising its independent judgment and analysis, has found that an EIR was prepared for the Project in accordance with CEQA, in which the EIR adequately discloses and analyzes the proposed Project’s potentially significant environmental impacts, its growth inducing impacts, and its cumulative impacts, and analyzed alternatives to the Project. For those impacts that could potentially exceed CEQA thresholds of significance, where feasible the City has identified and imposed mitigation measures that avoid or reduce the impact to a level of less-than- significant. The Planning Commission has further found that the benefits of approving the Project outweigh the Project’s significant and unavoidable impacts. 5. The proposed Project is consistent and compatible with all elements in the City of South San Francisco General Plan as office/R&D uses in the East of 101 Area help the City implement several broad General Plan goals, including but not limited to: maintaining a balanced land use program that provides opportunities for continued economic growth, and building intensities that reflect South San Francisco’s prominent inner bay location and excellent regional access. 6. The proposed Project is consistent with the standards and requirements of the City's Zoning Ordinance and with the provisions of the East of 101 Area Plan. The development of the Project Site would result in the construction of approximately 128,737 gross sq. ft. of office/ R&D space, and would meet minimum design standards. 7. The site is physically suitable for the type of development and density proposed, as the campus development will benefit from being located in the East of 101 Area plan, and the size of the office/ R&D campus is appropriate for the location and meets the City’s land use and zoning standards. B. Use Permit 1. The proposed Project is consistent with the standards and requirements of the City’s Zoning Ordinance and with the design provisions of the East of 101 Area Plan. The Project meets or exceeds all of the general development standards of the BTP Zoning District, with the exception of a request for a parking reduction. The request for a parking reduction is permissible and warranted by the City’s Zoning Ordinance because the Project incorporates a robust Transportation Demand Management Program designed to encourage all employees to rely on alternatives forms of transportation. 2. The proposed Project is consistent with the General Plan for the reasons stated in Findings A.5 through A.7 above and is consistent with the East of 101 Area Plan. 3. The proposed office/ R&D use will not be adverse to the public health, safety, or general welfare of the community, nor detrimental to surrounding properties or improvements, for the reasons stated in Finding A.7 above. 4. The proposed Project complies with applicable standards and requirements of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, with the exception of parking requirements, which are permissible and warranted by the Zoning Ordinance as discussed below. The exception for the number of parking spaces is allowable under the City’s Municipal Code Section 20.330.006(D), and warranted based on the following findings: a. The parking reduction will serve to support and promote the Project’s TDM program. b. The Project provides approximately 78% of the required parking spaces and is required, through the TDM program, to achieve an alternative mode use of 35%. The site is not anticipated to result in a shortfall of on-site parking or create the need for overflow parking off-site. c. The proposed parking standard of 2.5 spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. for non-residential uses and will be adequate for the proposed use because of the offered alternative solutions for providing and managing parking. The Project is required to implement a TDM Program on an on-going basis over the life of the Project with a required alternative mode shift of 35 percent. The TDM requirements applicable to the Project, the fact that similar reduced standards have been accepted and/or successfully applied within several large developments in the City, including other nearby Genentech developments and ARE-owned campuses such as Merck and Verily, and the studies from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) all support a reduced parking standard. d. The reduced parking rate reinforces the overall efforts of the City’s General Plan and the TDM Ordinance, which encourage reduced parking standards as an effective tool in encouraging use of alternative modes of transportation other than single occupancy vehicles. e. The number of parking spaces provided by the reduced standard will serve all existing, proposed and potential uses as effectively and conveniently as would the standard number of parking spaces required by Chapter 20.230 and Chapter 20.330. As described above, there is ample evidence to support the proposed parking reduction, and there is added concern that an overabundance of parking could have a deleterious effect on the goals and objectives of the City’s TDM efforts since such would serve as a disincentive to use of alternative modes of transportation. 5. The design, location, size, and operating characteristics of the proposed Project are compatible with the existing and reasonably foreseeable future land uses in the vicinity because the Project will promote an office/R&D campus in close proximity to other office and research and development uses with employee-serving amenities. 6. The site is physically suitable for the type of development and density proposed, as the development of a high quality research and campus-style project is in keeping with existing development within the East of 101 Area and the BTP Zoning District 7. The Project complies with CEQA for the reasons stated in Finding A.4 above. C. Design Review 1. The Project, including Design Review, is consistent with Title 20 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code because the Project has been designed as a high quality office/ R&D campus-style development, which will provide a pedestrian-friendly campus, on-site amenities, bicycle facilities on Forbes Boulevard, construction of a segment of the Rails- to-Trails, and sustainable design. 2. The Project, including Design Review, is consistent with the General Plan and the East of 101 Area Plan, because the proposed office/R&D campus-style development is consistent with the policies and design direction provided in the South San Francisco General Plan for the dual MI/CC land use designations by encouraging new office/R&D facilities with campus-serving amenities and connections to transit hubs. 3. The Project, including Design Review, is consistent with the applicable design guidelines adopted by the City Council in that the proposed Project is consistent with Design Guidelines, including the design and development standards outlined in the East of 101 Area Plan. 4. The Project is consistent with the Use Permit for the reasons stated in Findings B.1-B.7 above. 5. The Project is consistent with the applicable design review criteria in South San Francisco Municipal Code Section 20.480.006 (“Design Review Criteria”) because the project has been evaluated by the Design Review Board on December 17, 2019 and May 19, 2020, and found to be consistent with each of the eight design review criteria included in the “Design Review Criteria” section of the Ordinance. D. Transportation Demand Management Plan 1. The proposed trip reduction measures contained in the TDM Plan (attached hereto as Exhibit B) are feasible and appropriate for the Project, considering the proposed use and the project’s location, size, and hours of operation. Appropriate and feasible measures have been included in the TDM Plan to achieve a projected 35 percent alternative mode usage, as required. The TDM Plan provides incentives for employees to use modes of transportation other than single-occupancy vehicle trips, such as secure bicycle storage, shower facilities, preferential parking for carpools and vanpools, and an employee TDM contact, among others. The TDM Plan also uses a lower parking ratio to increase ridership on BART, Caltrain and other transit services. Further, an employee transit center for shuttle pickup and drop-off linking the Project to nearby transportation lines will help encourage alternative forms of transportation. 2. The proposed performance guarantees will ensure that the target 35 percent alternative mode use established for the Project by Chapter 20.230 will be achieved and maintained. Conditions of approval have been included to require that the Final TDM Plan, which must be submitted for review and approval prior to issuance of a building permit, shall outline the required process for on-going monitoring including annual surveys and triennial reports. SECTION 2 DETERMINATION NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that subject to the Conditions of Approval, attached as Exhibit A to this Resolution, the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco hereby makes the findings contained in this Resolution, and conditionally approves the Project Plans (attached as Exhibit C), the Conditional Use Permit, the Preliminary TDM Plan (attached as Exhibit B), and Design Review. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage and adoption. * * * * * * * I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco at a regular meeting held on the 19th day of November, 2020 by the following vote: AYES: Chair Wong, Vice-Chair Evans, Commissioner Faria, Commissioner Shihadeh, Commissioner Murphy, Commissioner Bernardo, Commissioner Tzang NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: RECUSE: Attest_/s/Tony Rozzi________ Secretary to the Planning Commission